Speed lacing devices have been used in athletic and outdoor activity shoes, such as in hiking and mountain or rock climbing shoes. Conventional speed lacing systems provide large pairs of eyelets which are wide enough to permit an unconstricted, uniform pull of the shoelace, and thus, provide rapid tightening of the lacing configuration. While uniformity is an admirable quality in speed lacing systems, extant speed lacing forms mostly provide the conventional mode of lace threading. And, most significantly, prior art speed lacing systems, even those that allow for tension and width adjustment, requires the shoe wearer to untie and unthread the shoelace before the shoelace can be re-threaded into the preferred width and tension adjusting eyelet.
The diversity in the anatomy of the human foot, such as high and low insteps, provides a logical incentive for the design and development of closure devices with integrated width and tension adjustment features. Furthermore, given that most athletic shoes are bought in sizes which allows the wearing of thick padded sports socks, and that these same athletic shoes are often times worn without thick socks, it is desirable to design athletic shoes with adjustable lacing systems; and, better yet, an adjustable width speed lacing system with a unique mode of lace reception.